Dec 30 Gluten-Free Chewy Pecan Cookies

How ugly are these cookies?? No, seriously, I don't remember the last time I've come across such an unattractive cookie.

But I've discovered something about baked goods, cookies in particular. Ugly doesn't mean bad tasting. Actually, sometimes, it's quite the contrary. Some of the most homely and plain looking cookies I've encountered happened to also be some of the tastiest. Like these flourless almond butter cookies. Those cookies are ugly. And so good. And now these. These gluten-free chewy pecan cookies. They're ugly. And delicious. But delicious is too ordinary a word to describe them.

Do not judge a cookie by its appearance. That's the lesson you should take out of these cookies. Because they're flat. And crackly. And bumpy. And oddly shaped. But they taste unbelievable. And, they are so, so, so, so, so chewy!! Like bend-them-in-half-and-they-still-won't-crack chewy! My favorite cookie texture!

So, these pecan cookies, which are super ugly, also happen to be the chewiest cookies that taste like a mixture of caramel, butterscotch, toasted nuts, and all of your favorite sticky candy bars.

Who would have thunk?

I didn't go into the food photoshoot I conducted for these cookies with any high expectations. I knew the photos would be bad. And they are. Because the subject matter is so unattractive. There was no hope.

But it's not just the cookies' fault. It's also my fault. Because I didn't take into account the fact that it would get dark within minutes of starting to photograph these cookies in natural light. Because hello, it's winter. I guess I'm just in denial.

I am well aware that these pecan cookies look the opposite of tempting. Which is why I was surprised that they all got finished within an hour of their coming out of the oven. It warms my heart that people weren't so quick to judge. So tolerant and broad-minded, my family and friends are. They were willing to give these cookies the benefit of the doubt. And rightly so. So, so rightly so.

These chewy pecan cookies contain no regular flour. The binding agent used is oat flour. So the cookies can easily be made gluten-free by using gluten-free oat flour. Or gluten-free oats, if you're making your own oat flour.

These pecan cookies are also eggless. In case you have a problem with eggs. And they can be made with coconut sugar, if you want to skip the brown sugar. So overall, I'd say these cookies are pretty wholesome.

The nutty flavor in these chewy, sticky disks of awesomeness comes from some pecans that you toast and then grind up in your food processor to churn into a butter. Yep, you make your own pecan butter for these cookies. Get your fancy pants on.

But it's much simpler than it sounds. All you have to do is bake some raw pecans in your oven for 10 minutes to toast them, and then place them in your food processor for two minutes to grind them. And you get roasted pecan butter!

Then you add the rest of the ingredients into your food processor (yay for one-bowl recipes!) and blend it all together. And you're done.

Spread the pecans onto one of your baking sheets and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Once toasted, place 3/4 cup of the pecans into a food processor and blend till butter forms. Meanwhile, chop up the remaining 1/2 cup pecans.

Once the pecans turn into butter, add the sugar, honey, and vanilla extract to food processor and pulse to combine.

Add in the dry ingredients and milk and pulse till smooth. Stir in the chopped pecans last. *You can make your own oat flour by blending oats in your food processor till finely ground.

Using a cookie scoop, drop mounds of dough onto prepared baking sheets. Chill 30 minutes in the fridge. (Chilling depends on the consistency of your batter. Sometimes I don't have to chill my dough at all and sometimes I do. The best option is to test one cookie first by baking it without refrigerating it. If it spreads too much, chill your dough. However, these cookies are supposed to be quite thin.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until flattened and just golden on the edges. The cookies will be thin and very chewy.